View full sizeIdaho National Guard Public AffairsA soldier of the 116th makes a last call from the states before boarding a plane to the Persian Gulf.

As Americans continue to tune out the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, another set of Northwest soldiers are arriving to take up their duties for the next 10 months. The 116th Cavalry Brigade, an Idaho-based National Guard brigade that includes a battalion of about 600 soldiers from Oregon, is reaching Iraq in stages this week, following two months of stateside training.

For the next 10 months, the 2,700 soldiers from Idaho, Montana and Oregon will be running convoys, standing guard at checkpoints and carrying out other jobs that help support the presence of the 50,000 U.S. troops who remain in Iraq -- not to mention members of the Iraq security forces who have taken primary responsibility for providing security in that country.

That means, if the U.S. adheres to its drawdown timetable, these Oregon, Idaho and Montana soldiers will be among the last U.S. troops in Iraq.

Casualties in Iraq are down sharply from the days when more than 100 soldiers a month were being killed in hostile action. Oregon's 41st Brigade, which came back from Iraq this spring, lost two soldiers to a roadside bomb over the 10 months it was in the country -- not many, when compared with the 2,100 or so who were deployed, but still a tragedy that left holes in two Northwest families.

Even when nobody is killed, deployments like these take a significant toll on the people who serve and the families they leave behind. Soldiers are adjusting now to spending the next 10 months in a sometimes-hostile environment, and their families and friends are buckling down for 10 months of prayer and concern. For the soldiers, it'll be a period that's long on structure, short on independent action and punctuated by periods of hypervigilance. For the families, it'll be a time when left-behind parents and children step up to manage all the trials of everyday life, without the help of an absent father, mother, brother or sister.

When the soldiers come home next fall, they'll need to make another big adjustment to life in a civilian world that has rendered itself mostly oblivious to what they've been through. It'll be a time when they'll re-enter the life of small-time stress and expectations, and for some, it won't be an easy transition.

Rural Oregon, which contributed most of the 600 soldiers of the 3rd of the 116th, knows better than most of the state what it means to deploy as a soldier. The battalion roster is filled with people from towns like Pilot Rock, Cove, Ontario, Echo and Pendleton. These communities have shown repeatedly that they support the people they send into war zones.

But nobody has infinite resources. And in a state like Oregon, with no active-duty military presence, it's especially important for households and organizations to knit together in systems that will support the soldiers and the families they leave behind.

The state has come a long way since the National Guard sent its first contingent of soldiers to Iraq seven years ago. It has created a reintegration team that serves as the first line of referral for veterans. It has become more skillful in managing family support networks that allow scattered spouses and family members to lean on one another during deployments. Community groups such as the Oregon Partnership and veterans centers at colleges and universities have sharpened their focus on veterans' issues. Employers like Platt Electric have stepped up to lead the call to hire veterans. The Legislature and the governor have demonstrated in small ways and large that they appreciate the men and women who serve in uniform.

But in the end, every person involved in a deployment must complete a yearlong personal journey. The least we can do is to remember them all while they're gone and to show our support until -- and after -- they return.